Iran – Features

By Ghulam Muhommed

(source: author)

The public enquiry in UK, about the whole gamut of the British going to war with Iraq, is taking its toll on the main characters in UK, who poodled their way to an illegal and unnecessary war indulged into by a crazy US President and his equally diabolic Vice President’s personal tiff with Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein.

The enormous price in human sufferings and hundreds and thousands killed in this illegal and most destructive war, has people both in UK and US rising in unison to question the validity and legality of this wanton act of abusing public trust and spending billions of dollars of public fund, that in no measure was the prime cause behind the collapse of the world system of mindless expansion of international credit and the sudden loss of confidence in war economies of the West. War not only destroys the victimized nation, but the aggressors too.

Read More »Blair cornered opts for more aggressive defense

The Media Review Network (MRN) welcomes the result of the probe by the Crime Intelligence Unit and the Organised Crime Unit of the South African Police Services (S.A.P.S) in which they deny any link between Al Qaeda and the robbery that took place at Velmore Hotel outside Erasmia, near Pretoria.

The MRN challenged the speculative nature of the article by Graeme Hosken and wrote to the Pretoria News about our concerns. We now feel vindicated that the S.A.P.S Crime Intelligence Unit as well as the Organised Crime Unit, after thorough investigation have refuted the contents of Graeme Hosken’s report.

National Police spokeswoman, Brigadier Sally De Beer said: “The S.A.P.S is satisfied that, contrary to certain media reports, a suspect involved in a shoot-out with police members during which a sergeant was wounded on 20 December 2010 near the Velmore Hotel, has no links with the group known as Al Qaeda.”

She further went on to say that: “Although the journalist could have picked up speculation on the scene of the crime, the S.A.P.S is of the opinion that it was irresponsible to make such wide-ranging claims, which has already attracted international attention, without any confirmation whatsoever.”

In view of the above, the Media Review Network demands an unequivocal apology from the Pretoria News and the reporter, Graeme Hosken, for the such reckless and negligent reporting which has also aroused negative international attention toward South Africa, by linking Al Qaeda to armed robberies here.

Ibrahim Vawda

E-mail: webmaster@mediareviewnet.com

Read More »Press statement no al qaeda link in robbery

British Anthropologist Jeremy Keenan on “The Dark Sahara: America’s56in Africa”
Dark-sahara-web

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her seven-nation tour of Africa, we hear from British anthropologist Jeremy Keenan. He traces AFRICOM, the US military command in Africa, to a 2003 kidnapping of European tourists. The hostage taking was widely blamed on Islamic militants thought to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, but Keenan argues that the Bush administration and the Algerian government were the ones responsible.

Guest:

Jeremy Keenan, Professor of social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His latest book is The Dark Sahara: America’s56in Africa. Its sequel, The Dying Sahara, will be released next year.

AMY GOODMAN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has emphasized that her seven-country tour of Africa is intended to promote democracy, fight corruption, and boost US investments in African trade and agriculture.

We turn now to another issue that’s widely expected to be discussed on every stop: AFRICOM, the US military command in Africa, which has been publicly opposed by every country on the continent except Liberia.

Now Secretary Clinton will not be visiting the countries in and around the oil- and gas-rich Sahara desert—Mali, Niger, Chad, Algeria and Mauritania. But a new book by British anthropologist Jeremy Keenan argues this area is crucial to understanding the birth of AFRICOM and the Bush administration’s expansion of the global56into Africa.

Keenan is a professor of social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and has spent over four decades working in and writing about this region. He traces AFRICOM and the US military concern over al-Qaeda’s presence in Africa back to the February 2003 kidnapping of thirty-two European tourists in Algeria’s Sahara desert. The hostage taking was widely blamed on Islamic militants thought to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, but Professor Keenan argues that the Bush administration and the Algerian government were the ones to blame.

His latest book is called The Dark Sahara: America’s56in Africa. Its sequel is called The Dying Sahara, will be released next year.

Anjali Kamat and I spoke with Professor Keenan last week and asked him to lay out the story.     

Read More »British anthropologist jeremy keenan on the dark sahara americas56in Africa